Yesterday is history: Tomorrow, a mystery
by Still Stream
Summary: Alvin gets to relive his childhood, literally. Jude quickly realizes this is not a good thing. [Alvin/Jude. Spoilers for post game and Alvin's backstory.]
1. Jude

Author Note:

I recently got an account on AO3, and this ended up being the first fic I posted there. As I'm working on two fics right now, though, I realized that I've been posting one of them on AO3 and the other one on this site. It seemed kind of silly that I had two different fics on two different fic sites, so now I'm making an attempt to consolidate them. Going between the two sites is kind of a pain, and really the only thing preventing me from consolidating everything is laziness.

This fic pretty much came about when I thought, "I wonder what Tales of Xillia de-aging fic would be like." And voila! It's Alvin/Jude, but Leia plays a pretty big part as well.

**Disclaimer:** I don't claim ownership to anything

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** Alvin gets to relive his childhood, literally. Jude quickly realizes this is not a good thing. [Spoilers for post game and Alvin's backstory.]

**Pairing:** Alvin/Jude

* * *

_We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories... And those that carry us forward, are dreams._

-H.G. Wells

**...**

The one thing Jude had noticed over the past few months since he and Alvin had started – well, he didn't really know what to call it; 'dating' was probably an appropriate term – was that there were certain topics that he was better off not bringing up with him.

It was when he had been visiting Xian Du for a weekend and helping out Alvin with his newly formed business that he'd first noticed it.

As soon as Jude set the heavy box down he'd been ordered to move on top of the closest stack he could find in the warehouse, he turned to Alvin.

"Is this okay?"

Alvin was too busy glancing down at the clipboard in his hands, so he waved a hand in Jude's general direction before answering, "Yeah, that' s fine."

"You're not even looking," Jude pointed out as he walked over to where Alvin was looking over the clipboard.

"I trust your judgement," Alvin answered absentmindedly.

Jude took a peek at the clipboard as he stopped next to Alvin. At the very bottom in fresh ink was Alvin's signature. As Jude looked it over, a question popped up in his mind.

"Alvin, how come you don't use your real name? I mean, this is a business that'll be operating between Rieze Maxia and Elympios, right?"

At the time it had seemed like such an innocent question, but Alvin's usual easygoing expression had immediately darkened. He looked away from Jude.

"I have my reasons."

"Your reasons?" Jude wasn't quite sure he understood.

Jude felt Alvin's arm around his shoulder, a gesture he was all to used to by now. "It's a lot easier to just sign with 'Alvin,' you know?" He said with a laugh. "My real name's far too long."

Yet when Jude looked over to Alvin, something was off in his expression. The smile seemed forced, and his eyes hinted at something else that Jude couldn't quite figure out.

It was then that Jude realized that even after everything that had happened, there were just some things you just didn't bring up around Alvin.

**...**

_You worry too much, Jude! Alvin will _love _it. Besides, I've already gathered all the stuff we need for the party. Too late to back down, now!_

Jude read over the last sentence of the letter written in Leia's messy handwriting. Despite having everything set in place, he couldn't help but worry regardless. Birthdays tended to remind people of their past, and with Alvin he could never quite be sure of whether that was okay or not.

Jude sighed as he put the letter down on his desk and turned back to the spyrite research test results he'd been looking over before. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration as he recalled just why he'd taken a break to read some letters instead. A certain recurrent variable that neither he nor his research team could make sense of kept popping up in the printed out results. It didn't seem to affect anything, but the fact that it was there in the first place flew in the face of every bit of theory Jude had worked to construct over the past half year.

He ended up so absorbed in the words on the page that he didn't even hear the door to his office open. He almost jumped when he felt someone's arms around his shoulders.

"Still the ever-studious honors student, I see," came a voice from right next to his ear.

"Alvin!" Jude jumped in his seat. He hadn't been expecting him for another few hours at least. He spun his chair around. Sure enough, Alvin was standing only a few feet away with that look of casual amusement Jude was so used to seeing by now.

"Am I?" Alvin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You said in your letter that you'd be here in the afternoon," Jude pointed out, sounding more annoyed than he'd meant to. He resisted the urge to glance back at his desk. There was a stack of letters he needed to hide.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Alvin was leaning over Jude in his chair now, one knee against the seat to keep himself balanced. "I finished up things in Xian Du sooner than I'd anticipated, so I figured I'd get started on my trip early. I left last night."

"I would've appreciated some notice ahead of time." Jude tilted his head up to meet Alvin's eyes. It was embarrassing how Alvin could still make him flustered just by being in his personal space like this.

"And here I thought you liked surprises." Alvin closed the distance between them with a slow, languid kiss.

Forgetting everything else for the moment, Jude couldn't help grabbing at the lapels of Alvin's coat and pulling him closer. It had been more than a month since he'd last seen Alvin, after all.

"Alvin," Jude said with a hint of amusement in his voice as he pulled back. "What have I told you about distracting me when I'm at work?" He could feel Alvin laugh as he moved down to kiss Jude's neck.

"That it's something you really enjoy and you highly encourage me to continue doing in the future?" Alvin voice was a soft rumble against Jude's throat.

Jude stifled a moan as he summoned every ounce of discipline he could at the moment. "As much as I'd love to continue," his breath hitched as he felt teeth brush against his skin. "I am kind of busy right now."

"Fine, fine." Alvin pulled back, standing back from Jude's chair as he regarded him with amusement. "You're cute when you get flustered, you know that?"

Jude spun his chair around as his blush only deepened. "It's a miracle I ever get any work done when you visit," he muttered as he surveyed the mess of papers on his desk. There was a stack of letters he'd meant to put away before Alvin arrived. Hoping that Alvin wouldn't notice anything, he shuffled the letters with some research notes and shoved them into a drawer.

"But now that you're here early, maybe you could help me out." Jude stood up out of the chair and stretched. He'd been sitting down since he'd gotten into the lab in the early morning and it was good to finally move around again.

"You want me to chat with your patients again?" Alvin arched an eyebrow.

"Please?" Jude looked at him hopefully. "They really like you, you know."

He sighed. "It's good to know I'm so popular among a bunch of grandmas."

Jude laughed. "Well, for them I think it's a relief to talk to someone who isn't asking them about how they feel all the time. If you're stuck talking to a bunch of doctors in lab coats all day, it probably gets really tiring. But you're different."

"And here I thought it was my natural charm." There was a touch of disappointment in Alvin's tone.

Jude patted him on the back as he headed for the door. "That's what I meant by 'different.'" He smiled at Alvin as he opened the door. "Come on, they're in the examination room downstairs."

Alvin followed Jude out the office door and down the hallway. "How are they, anyway? Are those new… spyrites working for them?"

"That's the thing." Jude sounded doubtful. "They're working far better than we anticipated. And we can't exactly figure out why."

"You say that like a bad thing." Alvin shrugged. "So you've come up with a medicine that's better than you'd planned. Sounds good to me."

Jude shook his head as he reached the foot of the stairwell leading down to the second floor. "When you're dealing with live human test subjects, you leave nothing to chance."

"So what're you going to do?"

"At this point? I was thinking of stopping the tests until we get a clearer picture of what's going on. I don't want to continue anything that has even the slightest chance of harming our patie-"

Jude's words were cut off by a low rumble rolling through the entire lab. He lost his footing on the steps and would've fallen the rest of the way if Alvin hadn't grabbed his arm.

"What the hell was that?" Alvin looked around as though expecting to find the source of the shockwave in the stairwell itself.

"That felt like it came from the second floor. That's where the examination room is!" Jude broke off into a run with Alvin following close behind.

By the time they reached the second floor, the whole place was already in chaos. Smoke was pouring out of the examination room. A woman from Jude's research team was running toward them.

"Dr. Mathis, we've got to get the patients out of the examination room!"

"Did someone shut down everything in the control room already?"

The woman shook her head. "I'm not sure. I can go check the control room if you need me to."

"The patients' safety comes first." Jude stepped forward but stopped when Alvin stepped ahead of him.

"You work on getting to the bottom of what caused this. I'll get the patients out, okay?"

"But Alvin-"

"Don't worry about me!" Alvin dashed into billowing smoke without another word.

Jude rushed into the control room next door to the examination room. Another member of his research team was already inside handling the monitors.

"What's going on here?" Jude demanded.

"I'm not sure! It seems like some kind of reaction-"

Jude pushed past him to get a good look at the monitor. The technology had been brought over from Elympios to assist with the research over on this side. None of it used spyrix technology of course. All it did was monitor everything they did in the examination room. And right now the results it was giving were…

"This doesn't make any sense." Jude reread the text on the screen as though doing so would somehow make it conform to some semblance of logic.

The man spoke up. "That's what I was saying, Dr. Mathis. It looks like there was some kind of chain reaction and then… well, I'm not sure what it's trying to tell us." He shook his head.

"And it looks like everything's already shut down on its own. What could've caused a chain reaction, then?" Jude was talking to himself now. "And the smoke… I don't smell a fire or anything. This doesn't make any sense." Jude turned and ran back for the door. "We'll figure this out later. We have to make sure no one's injured first!"

He ran back into the hallway to find the rest of his team helping the evacuated patients. After looking around, he called out, "Alvin?"

One of the patients lying against the wall pointed into the room. "That man… he ran in and brought us out, but he hasn't come out after he went back to see if anyone else was inside."

Jude looked toward the door to the examination room. The odd smoke was mostly in the hall now, clinging to the ground instead of rising like regular smoke ought to. Jude dashed inside the room, looking around as the smoke cleared further.

"Alvin!" He called out. There was no response. The smoke was starting to clear, but he saw no sign of his friend.

As he tread further into the room, he nearly tripped over something. He looked down as the smoke cleared…

"What the?" He reached down into the smoke and pulled out… a boot? "Wait a second-!" It definitely belonged to Alvin. Jude wondered for a second if Alvin had tripped and fallen or…

The smoke gradually cleared to reveal a rather bizarre sight. Alvin's clothes were laying on the ground sans their owner. Jude's breath caught in his chest. He stumbled back onto the ground, fearing for the worst until the smoke cleared enough for him to see Alvin's coat.

Curled up in Alvin's coat was… a child? The boy lay sideways, seemingly wearing nothing except for the coat and shirt he was curled up in. Jude crawled closer to get a better look at the sleeping boy. The boy's short brown hair stuck up a little as he slept peacefully. Jude reached out and turned the boy over so he could get a better look at his face. As realization finally dawned him, his eyes widened in shock.

"N-no way…" He got up and ran out into the hallway to get some assistance.

Half of the research team was working on evacuating the patients and getting them back to Talim Medical School. Jude managed to get Helena, one of the women on the team, to help him clear out the room. She had the good sense to pick up the sleeping child along with Alvin's coat and take him to one of the side rooms to get him dressed. They luckily still had left over clothes from when they'd had younger patients in the lab.

By the time Jude knocked politely on the door and entered with the rest of Alvin's clothes that he had gathered, the child was still asleep while lying on an examination table, fully dressed in a collared shirt, shorts, and a pair of shoes.

Helena looked at Jude worriedly as he entered the room. "Dr. Mathis, who is this child?"

Jude pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. But I have a hunch. Hopefully we can find out when he wakes up."

"At first I thought he was one of our patients. But we haven't been working with children for awhile. We only had our older patients in the lab for today, didn't we?" She was looking to Jude for an explanation now. Jude wished he had a decent one to offer.

"That's right. I'll have a chat with him once he wakes up. Then we can get to the bottom of this." Jude looked down at the sleeping boy on the examination table. "I'll watch over him for now. Sorry to ask this of you, but could you help the rest of the team get the patients back to Talim?"

Helena nodded. "Today sure has been a day, hasn't it?"

Jude sighed. "I wish I knew what could've caused all this."

She patted Jude on the shoulder. "We'll figure it out once things calm down." She turned to leave the room.

Jude felt bad about leaving everyone else to clean up. But there was no way he was going to leave this boy alone like this. Especially if he was who Jude thought he was.

Jude wasn't sure how many minutes passed as he watched the boy sleep. But finally the boy started to stir. Jude rushed to his side as he started to sit up on the exam table.

"A-Alvin?" He asked tentatively.

The boy sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. His gaze darted around the room and then back to Jude.

"Alvin? Are you oka-"

Jude's words were cut off as the boy launched himself off the table feet first into Jude, knocking the wind out of him. Jude stumbled backward into the wall next to the examination table.

There was a click and before Jude knew it, he was staring down the barrel of a gun – Alvin's gun.

"You have five seconds to tell me where the hell I am," the boy demanded. He glared at Jude with narrowed eyes cold as ice.

"Alvin…" Jude managed to get out as he slowly caught his breath.

"That's _not_ my name," the boy answered coldly.

Jude wracked his brain as he tried to figure out what was going on. The voice matched – the pitch was a lot higher but it was unmistakably Alvin. Yet the way he was acting made no sense.

"Don't think I'll hesitate to blow your head off," the boy threatened.

Jude noticed the way the younger boy held the gun – held steady in his left hand with his right hand for support since it was probably heavier than he was used to. Jude recognized that stance.

"Alfred," Jude said quietly. "That's your name, right?'

The boy's eyes widened in surprise. He clearly hadn't been expecting that.

It was now or never – Jude dove for the boy before he could so much as pull the trigger. The gun went flying out of the boy's hand toward the door as he hit the ground. Once he had him on the ground, Jude managed to pin him with ease.

"Let me go!" The boy yelled.

Jude had him firmly held down now, the boy's arms behind his back, which Jude held in place.

"Not until you promise not to hurt anyone." Jude's tone came out more stern than he'd meant for it to.

"Who the hell are you, anyway?" The boy shouted, still squirming. "You work for Gilbert or something? I'm not your enemy, dammit!"

Jude blinked. He couldn't make heads or tails of what Alvin was saying.

"Alfred." Jude was struggling to hold the boy down. He was surprisingly strong for his age. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Says the jerk who tackled me!"

"You attacked me first," Jude reminded him. "Promise not to try to kill me again and I'll let you go."

Alvin didn't say anything in response. Instead, he went still.

"If it's information you want, I don't know anything."

"I'm not after any information," Jude answered truthfully.

"Then why'd you kidnap me?"

Jude blinked in surprise. "Kidnap?"

"Why else would you drug me and drag me here?"

Jude couldn't think of a response. He felt like he was missing something here. "Wait. What's the last thing you remember?"

"It's none of your business," the boy spat back in response.

This was going nowhere. "Look, I didn't kidnap you. You just lost your memory and-"

"Then where am I?"

"Um…" Jude tried to think of the best way to answer that question. "Fennmont."

At that, Alvin's eyes went wide with surprise. "So we're… in Rashugal?" He asked hesitantly.

"We are," Jude answered slowly.

Alvin went silent again.

"Alfred, I know you're probably wondering how you got here. But I promise you, I'm not here to hurt you."

Once again, Alvin kept silent.

"If I let you go, will you promise to cooperate?"

Alvin nodded slowly, though it was hard to with his face pressed against the floor.

"Okay then." Jude eased up on Alvin gradually. When the boy seemed to offer no resistance, he backed off completely. He watched cautiously as Alvin sat up slowly. Other than rubbing his arms, the boy sat rooted to the spot.

"Follow me, okay? I promise I won't hurt you," Jude reassured him again. He was relieved when Alvin allowed him to take hold of his hand and lead him out of the room. As he headed for the first floor, he kept his eye on Alvin in case the boy decided to try and make a run for it. It was unnerving how quiet he'd become. The Alvin he knew was always eager for conversation most of the time. But this version of him was eerily quiet. The boy simply stared ahead, his face expressionless.

Jude ended up leading Alvin into one of the rooms they usually used for patients toward the back of the first floor. It was a relatively small room with six simple beds and one table. Since the door had a lock on it, Jude figured this was the best place to keep Alvin for the time being.

After getting Alvin settled on one of the beds, Jude knelt down so he could speak to the boy face to face. He couldn't get over how weird it felt to be speaking to Alvin like this.

"Just stay here, okay? I'll be right back," Jude said in the most reassuring voice he could muster.

Once again, his only response was a nod from the boy, who kept his eyes averted from Jude. His hands were bunched up in his lap. Other than that he gave no indication of what he was thinking.

Satisfied that he'd at least gotten through to him, Jude headed out of the room. As he closed the door he took one last look at Alvin. The last thing he saw before closing the door was the boy seated on the edge of the bed, perfectly still as he stared off into the distance. After Jude locked the door, he looked at the clock hanging in the hallway.

"Crap! I'm already late!" Leia's ship had arrived a full half hour ago and Jude had promised her he'd help her carry her luggage to her hotel. She was going to kill him at this rate. But he couldn't just leave Alvin here in this state, either. That meant he'd need to send someone from his research team out to get her instead. Between the accident, dealing with Alvin as he was now, and figuring out just what the heck was going on in the first place, Jude wouldn't be surprised if his team either quit or strangled him by the end of the week.

* * *

Comments/reviews are welcome, thanks for reading!


	2. Leia

Author Notes:

And here's Chapter 2! Chapter 3 shall be forthcoming some time in the future.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Leia**

Leia's memories of the weeks immediately following that terrible accident in her childhood were fuzzy at best: a blur of pain, Dr. Mathis's stern voice, and the view outside the clinic's window.

Every now and then she'd hear the door to her room open and close, a plate of food would appear by her bedside, and the door would once again swing open. At first, she never really questioned it. Her bed was situated higher than the table and turning her head to look down and figure out the identity of her visitor was too difficult. For the first few weeks, she liked to imagine that her food was magically floating to her bedside table.

It just happened that one day when she'd finally started improving that Leia had actually been awake enough when her mysterious benefactor arrived. She spied him over the edge of the other bed in the room as he entered slowly through the door. It was a young boy, maybe around her age, who was currently carrying her tray of food carefully. He didn't even look up at the bed as he laid the tray on the side table.

That was when Leia struck, grabbing the boy's arm as he turned to leave.

"Gah!" The boy tried to jump back, but Leia's grip was firm.

"Got you!" Leia opened her eyes, a victorious grin spread across her face. The physical therapy had been helping after all.

"L-let me go!" The boy looked up at Leia as though she were some monster about to devour him.

Leia was grinning from ear to ear, pleased to have finally figured out the identity of this mysterious kid. "You gotta say the magic word," Leia told him.

"P-please?" The boy offered.

"Nope, the other one!"

The boy was at a loss. "Is there… another one?"

"There is. And if you can't guess it, I'll never let you go." Leia said with a grin.

"That isn't fair!"

Leia couldn't help laughing, even though it made her sides hurt. The look of horror on the boy's face was just too much. She figured she might as well find out who he was before she let him go.

"So what's your name, anyway?"

"Oh, um. It's Jude." He smiled as he said it, eyes lighting up in a way that Leia found endearing.

Despite the pain shooting up her arm from the effort of keeping a tight grip on her visitor, Leia couldn't have been happier. After weeks of only talking to adults, she'd finally found someone her age.

"I'm Leia. Nice to meet you!" She couldn't maneuver enough to shake his hand, so she just shook his arm awkwardly.

Jude looked up at her. "Oh, I know. Dad's been talking about you a lot lately."

She blinked. "Dad…? You mean…?" Her eyes widened in shock. "Dr. Mathis is your dad?!"

"Uh huh," Jude answered with a nod.

"Oh." Leia wasn't sure of what to say to that. She finally let go of Jude's arm, her own arm searing with pain by this point. She tried her best not to show it.

"Are you okay?"

Leia nodded.

"You sure? Dad said you'd just started physical therapy, so…"

Leia flexed her fingers a bit. She was pretty used to the pain by now. "I'll be okay." She tried to hide her pain with a smile, but Jude wasn't fooled.

"I can go get Dad or Mom if it really hurts…"

"N-no! It's okay!" Leia had seen enough of Dr. Mathis for one day.

"Um, okay then." Jude fidgeted a bit. "I should go, though. Dad gets mad when I bug his patients."

Leia shook her head furiously. "No! Don't go! I'll tell him I made you stay." She hated to beg, but she was desperate. "Please?"

Jude glanced back at the door uneasily before turning back to Leia. "I… I guess I can stay for a bit." He hopped up on the bed opposite Leia's, swinging his legs aimlessly.

From that day forward, Jude would stop by even when he wasn't delivering food. As far as Leia could remember, they didn't talk about anything particularly deep, mostly dumb kid stuff. She'd been ready to just write him off as a total wimp when she first met him, but there was something about him: the way he smiled, the way he laughed at her silly jokes, the way his whole face would turn pink when he was caught off guard.

Looking back, she wondered if that was when she first fell for Jude.

**...**

Considering all of their meticulous planning beforehand, the last thing Leia had expected to see after stepping off of the boat at Fennmont's docks was the absence of the usually punctual Jude. She marched on ahead, her considerable luggage held in both hands, as her mind ran through ideas of what punishment to inflict on Jude whenever he did decide to show up. When she stopped to catch her breath, she noticed someone's shadow on the ground next to hers.

"Excuse me, Miss. But would you happen to be Leia Rolando?"

She stood up and turned around to find a serious-looking man in a lab coat.

"That would be me," she said somewhat uncertainly.

"I've been sent to escort you to your hotel. Unfortunately, Dr. Mathis is rather tied up at the moment. So I agreed to come meet you in his stead." He handed what looked like a letter to Leia.

She looked the single sheet over, noting that it did in fact feature Jude's neat, girly writing. It was more of a note than a letter. Just a few sentences saying he needed her to come to the laboratory from the hotel because plans had changed unexpectedly.

She tilted her head to the side as she finished reading the note. "Is everything okay?"

"Dr. Mathis will explain everything when we arrive at the lab," the main smiled apologetically. "My name is Dr. Grey, by the way. But just call me Grey."

"Nice to meet you, then." Instead of shaking his hand, Leia offered him one heavy bag cheerfully. "Mind helping me out?"

Grey took the bag without protest, though judging by the way he winced upon picking it up, he was surprised by its weight.

As Leia trudged toward their new destination with Jude's oddly quiet colleague, she couldn't help wondering what was going on. First of all, when had Jude become so important that he had people running errands for him? Secondly, what had him so occupied that he had to break a promise he'd made in writing? And finally, why was she being escorted back to the lab? The original plan was for them to meet at Fennmont's docks, head to her hotel, and then Leia would split off to make preparations while Jude waited for Alvin to arrive. This was totally different from the original plan, and Leia could only hope there was a good excuse for it.

On the way Grey insisted that they pick up lunch. It seemed like an odd detour to make considering how much of a hurry they were in, but she was pretty hungry now that she thought about it. Upon finally arriving at the lab, Grey asked Leia to wait just inside the front hallway.

"Sorry, I'll have to ask you to wait here while I go get Dr. Mathis." He smiled apologetically again as he ran off to get Jude.

This really was getting weird. She remembered Jude mentioning that he'd gotten funding for a research lab in one of his letters, but she hadn't realized just how big that lab was.

"Leia!" Jude was running down the hall toward Leia, now. He seemed to be in quite a bit of a hurry.

Leia would've crossed her arms had she not been holding a box of food. "The great Dr. Mathis finally decides to show his face, I see."

Jude stopped to catch his breath. "Sorry! This morning's been kind of crazy, and I had to stay back at the lab."

Leia looked him over. "Geez, Jude. You look like you've been up all night."

She tilted her head to the side a bit as she considered Jude's exhaustion. "Is everything okay? That guy you sent, Grey or whatever his name was, made it sound like there'd been an emergency."

Jude nodded. "There was an accident this morning."

"Really?" Leia looked around, expecting to see scorch marks or cracks running up the walls. "What kind of accident?"

"We're still trying to figure out the specifics, actually. Everyone on my team's fine." Jude ran a hand through his hair nervously. "But, well, Alvin was here and…"

"Alvin?! I thought he wasn't due to arrive for another few hours? Wasn't the whole reason I caught the early morning ship from Leronde so I could get here by the afternoon and start setting up things before he got here?"

"You know Alvin." Jude's smile was strained. "He said he finished up his business in Xian Du early, so he traveled overnight to get here this morning."

"Well, that messes up our plans a bit." Leia pouted a bit. "And wait, you said Alvin was here? Did the accident have something to do with him?"

Jude glanced down at the ground. "He was involved, but…" Jude looked like he was about to say something before thinking better of it. He looked back up at Leia, instead. "Well, come with me. It's kind of hard to explain."

"O-okay." Leia was really starting to worry, now. The way Jude looked as he led her toward the back of the building seemed to hint at something being seriously wrong. She was afraid to even ask.

Jude stopped when they reached a locked room toward the back of the building.

"So… where's Alvin?" Leia asked quietly.

Jude pointed to a row of windows close to the ceiling above them. "In there."

Leia stood up on the tips of her toes to be able to see through the windows. As she gazed through the glass, she saw a small room filled with a few beds. Sitting on the one closest to the window was a young boy no older than 12 by the looks of it. At the moment he seemed to be staring off into the distance, his legs swinging idly off the edge of the bed.

"Cute kid," Leia said, unsure of what Jude was trying to show her. "Is he one of your patients?"

"That's Alvin," Jude answered.

Leia froze. She turned her head toward Jude slowly. "Very funny, Jude. If this is you and Alvin's idea of some lame joke…" Between this and making her wait at the port, she was starting to wonder if this was all some elaborate prank planned by Alvin.

Jude shook his head. "I know it sounds crazy, but that boy in there is, as far as I can tell, Alvin."

She was expecting Alvin to jump out from around the corner any second now, laughing at how she'd fallen for his brilliant prank. And yet Jude's serious expression didn't change and no one else appeared in the hallway. Leia stole another peek through the glass.

"How can that be Alvin? The kid's around 2 feet too short for that, nevermind the age being totally off."

Jude laughed nervously. "Well, as far as I can tell, this is what happened…"

Leia listened to him retell the events of the morning. It was kind of confusing, but from what she gathered, the experiment Jude and his team had been running had gone wrong somehow and Alvin had gotten caught up in it while trying to get Jude's patients out of danger. Since then, he'd been like this.

"So… he's a kid now?"

"That's what it looks like. And it's not just a physical change, either. He doesn't seem to remember any of us."

"He's got amnesia on top of that," Leia rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Sounds like something out of a mystery novel."

"I don't think it's amnesia," Jude said hesitantly. "I think… well, it's just a theory at the moment. But I think that whatever happened this morning has literally turned back the clock for Alvin. As far as he's concerned, he really is a kid."

Leia's eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't even imagine what that must be like. "Wait, so you sent Alvin back in time?!"

"In a sense…" Jude looked like he was in deep thought. "The best way I can think of to explain it is that time has been reversed, but just for Alvin. We're still in this time period, but he's in the past. If that makes sense."

It didn't really make complete sense to Leia, but she was pretty sure she understood the gist of it. "Okay, so Alvin's stuck as a kid right now and he doesn't know who any of us are. That means we just have to watch over him until he goes back to normal, right?"

"Well, that's if this is reversible." Jude fidgeted with the sleeve of his lab coat. "That's what my team's working on figuring out now. The good news is that I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be reversible."

"Jude!" Leia glared at him. "This is, like, the opposite of a birthday! You're supposed to get older, not younger!"

Jude held up his hands as though to defend himself. "I know, I know! It's my fault, and I'll fix it! I just need some time. That's why I need your help."

"Let me guess," Leia shot Jude a knowing look. "You want me to babysit him."

"If you can't, I understand. I know things between you and Alvin are still…"

"Strained? Sure they are. But that doesn't mean I'm not willing to help out with this."

As uneasy as she felt, Leia meant what she said. It was true that she and Alvin had hardly spoken after what happened in Hamil over half a year ago. Jude had planned for Leia to arrive in Fennmont well before him exactly for that reason. But if Alvin needed her help, it wasn't like she could bring herself to say 'no.' If he really was stuck as a kid with no memory of the present, then he was probably scared out of his mind right now. Even after everything, Alvin was still her friend on some level. And she owed him at least this much.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Jude asked hesitantly. "Like I said, I can look after him myself, but-"

"You're sure you can figure out a way to get Alvin back to normal, right?"

Jude nodded. "My research team's working on figuring out what happened this morning. Things should go faster once I join them."

"You guys had better work really fast, then," Leia warned.

"We only have, what, three days before everyone else arrives?" Jude rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yup! Three days." Leia paused for a moment as she considered something. "I mean, worst case scenario, we could just take away a few birthday candles…"

Jude groaned. "Don't even joke about that! I don't want to imagine what'll happen if Alvin's still like this when everyone arrives. Yurgen'll kill me for depriving him of a business partner, for one."

Leia couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the mental image. But then something dawned on her. "Wait, did you lock Alvin in this room?"

Jude looked toward the locked door. "Er, well. You could put it that way." He quickly added, "But I had a good reason to."

"Jude!" Leia was back in full scolding mode. "He's probably scared out of his mind and you lock him up in a room by himself? He probably thinks we're kidnappers or something!"

"He deduced that before this room even came into things, actually."

Leia blinked. "Huh?"

"Look, I know Alvin looks like a normal kid, but… he's more dangerous than he looks. That's why I feel bad asking you to look after him. The first thing he did after waking up from that accident was to point a gun at me. He definitely looked like he knew how to use it, too."

For a brief moment as Leia closed her eyes, the sterile hallways of the laboratory giving way to bright sunlight filtering through high tree tops above. A scent of leaves and something sweet seemed to hang over everything. Suddenly, a loud bang tore through the air as Leia's shoulder exploded pain.

She winced at the memory but quickly recovered by shifting the box she was holding in her hands. She kept her eyes shut, her heart racing as she pushed down the memory. Hopefully, Jude hadn't noticed.

"Well, he's not armed now, right?" She asked, more to assure herself than anything.

Jude shook his head. "He should be mostly harmless, now. I've been trying to talk to him since before you got here, but he refuses to answer any of my questions. He won't even tell me how old he is. And he doesn't believe me when I try to explain why he can't remember coming here. I doubt it would do much good to tell him how much we know. If anything, it'd probably make him more suspicious."

"Poor Alvin…" Leia glanced down at the box in her hands. She couldn't imagine how frightening this must be for him. As she focused her thoughts, she remembered the box in her arms as though it had just materialized out of thin air. "Is the food for him, then?"

"It is. I figure he's probably hungry. And maybe he'll open up to us more if we're more hospitable."

"Well, don't worry about me." Leia had already made up her mind. "I'll keep an eye on him for you while you figure out a way to reverse this."

Jude's relief was palpable. "You have no idea how grateful I am, Leia. I really owe you."

"Don't worry." Leia grinned. "I'll be sure to remember _exactly_ how much you owe me back for this."

He laughed nervously before turning toward the door. "Oh, and one more thing I should tell you before we go in and talk to him."

"What?"

"Use his real name."

"Alfred?" The unfamiliar name felt strange on Leia's tongue. "Um, sure. I'll remember that."

**...**

Ten minutes later and Leia found herself alone in the room with Alvin. Jude had done his best with introductions, but Alvin had simply kept his gaze focused anywhere but on them. It was unnerving to see him like this. The Alvin that Leia knew so well was someone you couldn't shut up sometimes.

"So…" Leia began awkwardly. She remembered the box in her hands. "You must be hungry."

The boy shook his head.

"You sure?" Leia opened the box and took out one rappig bun. It was still warm. "The stuff they make around here is pretty good." She took a bite out of it. Truth be told, she was really hungry.

She sat there in awkward silence finishing off the bun as she watched Alvin. He was deliberately looking away, doing his best to ignore her.

"Come on, Alv-" Leia corrected herself. "Alfred. We got this for you. You like rappig, right?"

The boy shook his head again.

"Guess I'll have to finish this whole box myself, then." Leia announced, wishing she felt as cheerful as she sounded. It wasn't like she could finish off a dozen of these things by herself.

As she finished off the second bun and found herself wondering what she could do, the sound of a low growl sliced through the otherwise silent room.

Leia stopped mid-bite. Alvin quickly crossed his arms over his stomach, as though to prevent any further betrayal from his stomach. His cheeks were slowly turning red.

"Sounds like your stomach isn't convinced," Leia said with a laugh. She reached into the box and pulled out another bun. "Come on, take it. I swear there's nothing weird in it or anything. And like I said, I got this for you."

Alvin slowly looked up at Leia. His gaze shifted to the box in her hands, his eyebrows furrowed as though considering a matter of life and death. A few more moments passed before he held out his hand.

Leia was tempted to comment on his lack of manners, but getting this far felt like a miracle. She handed him the bun. "Here you go." She watched in amazement as he proceeded to devour it in seconds.

He held his hand out again.

Leia obliged him. They repeated the process until Alvin had gone through more than half the box. By the time he'd finished his seventh bun, he was looking significantly more amicable.

"Pretty good, right?" Leia gave him one of her best smiles.

Alvin said nothing and maintained the same guarded expression as he looked back at Leia. The fact that he was actually looking at her now gave her hope.

"Well, you seem to be feeling better at least."

"Why do you care?" He finally blurted out. Judging by the way he immediately closed his mouth and went back to glaring at the ground, it seemed like he hadn't meant to say anything.

"Because I do," Leia answered firmly. Her tone brooked no argument. When Alvin provided no further response, she decided to prod him further. "Come on. I'm not your enemy. I swear."

An uncomfortable silence descended on the room, the tension almost suffocating to Leia. She needed to think of something, anything. As she fidgeted nervously, her hand hit something hard in her pocket. She reached inside and pulled out a deck of cards that she'd brought along to fend off boredom on the boat ride. But now… she looked at Alvin.

"Wanna play cards?" She offered.

The boy slowly turned his head to meet her gaze. His eyes darted between the deck of cards and Leia's face, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"I can teach you some games, if you want," Leia offered.

"Poker," Alvin said immediately.

Leia blinked. "Uh, yeah, sure! Poker sounds good." She wondered if Alvin was particularly good at the game or something.

"One one condition," the boy added.

"Huh?"

"If I win three out of five games, you let me go."

Leia was taken aback for a moment before a thought occurred to her.

"And if I win?"

The boy didn't expect that response. He thought for a moment. "Then…"

"You have to promise to trust us," Leia interrupted.

For the second time since she'd entered the room, the boy looked surprised. "F-fine!" He answered firmly as he clenched his fists.

Leia breathed a sigh of relief as she laid the cards down on a table she pulled over. She was pretty confident in her Poker skills. Her dad had taught her everything, after all. While she had no intention of underestimating Alvin, she was pretty sure that she could beat him. And if she didn't, well… she'd cross that bridge when she got there.

**...**

Jude noted how the examination room was in surprisingly good condition for the site of a freak accident. Now cleared of all of its furniture for the sake of their investigation, it seemed smaller somehow. As far as the investigation went, Jude supposed they were in luck seeing as how there was a clue plain as day in the middle of the floor.

"This is… a channeling circle?" he asked as he looked at the faded pattern etched on the floor.

"The remnants of one," Grey answered from the other end of the room.

That could mean only one thing, Jude realized. "A spirit arte?" He'd read about spirit artes occurring spontaneously before, though it was supposed to be an incredibly rare occurrence.

"It would seem that way," Helena was seated cross-legged on the floor in front of the circle. "Interesting pattern, that's for sure. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

"So…" Grey looked over to Jude. "What happened to your friend? You never quite explained what happened to him."

"Um, well…" Jude fidgeted. Aside from Helena, no one had really seen what had happened to Alvin.

"He regressed chronologically," Helena said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Grey was staring at the both of them now, eyebrows raised. Just as he was opening his mouth to respond, the door opened.

"I think I may have figured out what generated this channeling circle."

It was the final member of Jude's small research team, a researcher from Auj Oule named Dr. Morgan. He held out a box usually used to contain spirit fossils. "Take a look at this."

Jude looked into the box. "Sand?"

"It's what's left of the spirit fossils we were using in our experiments. We were wondering what happened to the spyrites earlier, right? Well, here's your answer."

"No way… even if we used up all of their energy, this shouldn't happen." Jude reached into the box and watched as the glittering grains cascaded through his fingers. "This doesn't make any sense."

Dr. Morgan smiled. "I have a theory about that, actually. Considering just how powerful that spirit arte from this morning was, it had to draw its energy from somewhere, correct?"

Jude nodded.

"Ohhhh, I see." Helena spoke up from where she was still sitting. "This arte used our experimental spyrites as fuel. Well then, that's lovely. Spirit fossils don't grow on trees, you know."

Grey didn't seem satisfied with just that bit of information. "So we've got a good theory for what created this spirit arte. That just leaves us with two questions: what was the trigger for it and what did it _do_, exactly?" He looked over to Jude and Helena. "What did you mean by 'regressed chronologically'?"

Helena gestured toward Jude. "Ask Dr. Mathis."

Jude sighed as everyone's gaze fell to him. "Well, the best way I can think to explain it…" He described Alvin's current condition as best as he could, though he left out the part where he'd been held at gunpoint.

Morgan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What you're describing sounds like the manipulation of time itself. There's no way we could've…"

"When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth, right?" Helena offered. "Howe's Egg Principle. I think it applies here. We've somehow accidentally stumbled onto a means of controlling time. It's as simple as that."

Now everyone was staring at Helena. She shrugged and went back to studying the channeling circle.

Jude could sense an impending theoretical argument brewing. "Whatever it is, we should take a look at the printed test results before jumping to any conclusions."

Grey didn't look happy with the prospect. "The _entire_ stack? That'll take us all night, at least!"

"Guess we'll just have three authors' names when we submit the article detailing how we made a breakthrough in controlling time itself," Helena offered in a mocking tone. "It would be easier to split the Howe Prize three ways, I suppose."

Grey sighed. "Fine, fine. The sooner we get started on this, the better. Shall we split up the work, Dr. Mathis?"

"That's what I was thinking," Jude answered, feeling relieved. The sooner they were able to get to the bottom of things, the sooner he could help Alvin.

Of course, that was something easier said than done.

**...**

Leia focused on the deck of cards in front of her as she did her best to not betray just how nervous she felt to her opponent across the small table. It was the fifth round of their heated Poker match, and they each had two wins. She figured Alvin was a competent player, but she hadn't expected things to be so close like this.

Alvin finally set down his cards. "Full house," he announced calmly.

"Four of a kind," Leia announced happily. "I win."

The boy's eyes widened as he looked down at Leia's cards and then back at his own. Other than his look of utter disbelief, he was silent.

"So now you have to hold up your end of the bargain," Leia said solemnly, arms crossed.

Alvin looked up at her reluctantly. "Trust… you?"

Leia nodded.

"Fine." He said it flatly, clearly not happy about it. "But I want you to answer something for me."

"Sure, I'll answer if I can."

"Do you work for that guy?"

Leia stopped in the middle of shuffling the deck of cards, taken aback by Alvin's sudden question. "You mean Jude?"

"Yeah, him."

"Nah, I'm a friend of his."

Alvin didn't look convinced. He was looking up at Leia now, an eyebrow raised in doubt. "Really?"

Leia nodded. "Really."

"Is he your boyfriend, too, then?"

"Huh?!" The cards went flying out of Leia's hands. She hadn't seen that one coming. "N-no, of course not! I was just visiting him for the week and…" She had to wonder why she was explaining herself to Alvin, of all people, kid or not. "He's just my friend, okay?" She finally answered, flustered as she felt her face heating up.

Much to her surprise, the boy covered his mouth as he tried to hide a chuckle. Before long, Alvin was laughing as though it was the first time he'd done so in years, seemingly on the verge of tears.

Leia's annoyance gave way to confusion as she watched him. She'd seen Alvin laugh plenty of times, but never quite like this. There was something in the way the boy laughed, as though he hadn't a care in the world. He reminded her of Jude when they were younger. Jude had generally been a pretty quiet kid, but she was proud to say that she'd managed to make him laugh quite a bit every now and then. Even if it usually hadn't been intentional on her part when it happened.

After he finally caught his breath, Alvin knelt down on the ground and gathered up the cards that had gone flying off the table before standing up and handing them to Leia. "Here," he mumbled. He was looking away, his expression unreadable from where Leia sat. It was as though his laughing fit had never happened.

"Thanks." Leia resisted the urge to laugh as she accepted the cards. She wondered if this was what it was like having a little brother. Aside from locking him in a room, that is. "Anyway, it's getting late. I'll have to leave you alone for a bit while I go get dinner, okay?"

Alvin nodded.

"Is there anything you want in particular?"

The boy shook his head.

"Okay, then. I'll be right back." Leia stood up and reached across the table. When Alvin showed no signs of recoiling away, she patted him on the shoulder. He didn't look up, but he seemed to relax a bit. "Just sit tight, okay?"

He nodded again.

Satisfied that he wouldn't do anything crazy while she was gone, Leia left the room. As she double checked the door to make sure it had locked, she felt a wave of guilt wash over her. It still seemed wrong to be locking up Alvin like this.

By the time she returned with dinner, Alvin thankfully seemed to have opened up a bit.

"See? Not so bad, right?"

Alvin swallowed his mouthful of rice. "What is this stuff?"

"Soda rice! You've never had it?"

The boy made a face showing his obvious displeasure. "Tastes weird."

"It was the only thing I could cook on such short notice and with such limited means," Leia said with a sigh. "How about I bring you a nice big breakfast tomorrow to make up for it?"

"O-okay," Alvin said uneasily.

"I get it, Alfred." She reached across the small table and placed her hand over his smaller one. The boy immediately tensed. "Nothing makes sense right now. But I mean it when I say you're in the company of friends. You promised you'd trust us, right?"

Alvin nodded.

"You should get ready for bed." Leia put down her chopsticks. "I'll clean up everything from dinner in the meantime, okay?"

The boy complied quietly. By the time Leia had gathered up all the dishes and returned to the room, he had already tucked himself in. She ruffled his hair fondly before telling him good night. It didn't seem to take long for him to drift off to sleep, his breathing becoming softer as he turned toward his side. Sleeping like this, he looked so peaceful it was hard to believe he had to be locked up like this. As Leia stepped out of the room, she took one last look at Alvin before closing the door.

**...**

Leia trudged up the stairs to Jude's office on the second floor. She knocked a few times without getting an answer before opening the door. Inside, she found a rather amusing sight: Jude was slumped forward on his chair, his head pillowed on his crossed arms on his desk. Covering the desk itself was a mess of papers.

She crossed the room, stopping next to Jude's chair. His hair was longer now and messier, too. Leia wondered if he was spending too much time working to even bother to keep his hair tamed anymore. She remembered how he used to fuss about it when they were kids, especially any time his mom gave him a haircut.

"Jude?" She shook him lightly.

"Mmmph… Leia?" Jude mumbled. A few seconds passed before he practically leapt out of his seat. "W-wait! Did I fall asleep?!" He looked around frantically before noticing the mess of papers on his desk. "Oh no! They're out of order now!"

Leia watched as Jude hastened to put the numbered pages back in order. Once he was done, he looked notably relieved. Finally, he looked up at Leia.

"Er, sorry about that. Just… going over test results."

Leia laughed. "Geez, Jude. You should get some sleep or something."

He shook his head. "I can't. Somewhere in these test results is the key to getting Alvin back to normal. Or at least figuring out what's happened to him in the first place. I have to…" He yawned. "Have to get through all of this tonight."

Leia looked over at the stack. "All that?! I know you like reading, Jude, but even for you this seems like a bit much."

"It's fine," Jude insisted.

Noticing an empty spot on the edge of the large desk in front of Jude, Leia sat down. "Just don't kill yourself, okay? I don't think Alvin's in any mortal danger, at the very least."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because Jude closed his eyes and practically faceplanted into his desk. "That's the thing, though! I can't even say for sure if he isn't in any mortal danger! I mean, assuming he turns back to normal eventually, I'm not sure what the transformation process itself would be like. Either the process just reverses itself neatly, or… or…" He shook his head, which would've been an amusing sight from where Leia was sitting, were if not for the situation.

She put her hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. I mean, I'm not an expert on spirit artes or anything, but I'm sure Alvin will be fine. You work on figuring out how to get him back to normal and I'll work on keeping him out of any trouble, okay? No point in stressing yourself out over details you don't understand yet."

Jude sat up again and turned to Leia. "You're right. Sorry to freak out on you. I just feel like this is all my fault." He sighed. "I've been so arrogant. Graduating so early like this; everyone calling me doctor now. Even Rowen and King Gaius were perfectly willing to give me funding for this place. I think I started to believe that I could do anything. If I'd just been more careful with how I went about these experiments…"

"And what if you had?" Leia asked pointedly. "You can't know for sure how things would have turned out then, so there's no point in bothering yourself over it." She smiled. "Try to at least be proud of everything you've accomplished." She punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Or else!"

Jude laughed lightly as he rubbed his shoulder. "Okay, okay. I'll try."

"At the very least, I managed to get Alvin to cooperate and go to sleep."

"He's calmed down that much?"

"A little bit?" Leia thought for a moment as she tried to figure out the best way to put things. "He doesn't seem to mind me, I guess? Pretty sure he's still hiding a lot from us, but at the very least he's being more cooperative."

Jude let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear." He smiled up at Leia. "Thanks again. I know this is a lot to ask of you…"

"Don't worry about it! I told you, he's my friend, too." Even if it was hard to look at him whenever they were in the same room, Leia believed what she said firmly. "So I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early, right?"

"Early would be good. I'll go check on Alvin throughout the night just to make sure he's okay."

"Sounds like a plan!" Leia hopped off the desk. She patted Jude on the shoulder one more time. "Remember: don't kill yourself staying up, okay?"

"I won't," Jude reassured her. "I promise."

"I'm holding you to that, then!" And with that, Leia left.

**...**

"Please tell me you have an extra beef bowl with you…" Jude said almost longingly as he led Leia down the first floor hallway of the lab.

"Sorry," Leia clutched the boxed breakfast close to her chest. "I promised Alvin I'd bring him a big breakfast."

"I guess he's still a growing boy…" Jude looked dejected.

"He is. Well, hopefully he doesn't have to go through the entire process again. And don't tell me you haven't eaten all night. I would've picked up an extra bowl if you'd told me."

"Between reading through all those test results and checking on Alvin every so often, I was only able to have a snack or two," he answered sheepishly. "Maybe I'll step out after we check on Alvin."

They both stopped at the door. Jude opened it slowly, calling to Alvin as he entered the room. "Alfred? We've brought you breakfa-"

The room was empty, a slight draft blowing a bedsheet dangling from a high window.

"W-what the…" Leia uttered in shock as Jude dashed toward the window.

He jumped up and grabbed the top of the window sill to give himself some leverage to examine the slightly opened window. "Damn it!"

Leia set the packaged breakfast down before joining Jude at the window. "Did he…?"

Jude looked pale. "Looks like we really underestimated Alvin. He... he's escaped."

* * *

Comments/reviews are welcome. Thanks for reading!


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